Broncos Athletics

Bronco Football Hall of Famer Passes Away

EUGENE, Ore. -- Len Casanova, the longtime head
football coach and athletic director at the University of Oregon
and a member of the Santa Clara University Athletic Hall of Fame
who is widely regarded as the most beloved sports figure in the
state, died Monday night at a Eugene retirement center. He was
97.

Casanova coached the Ducks from 1951 through 1966, finishing
with an 82-73-8 record. He served as the school's athletic director
from 1967-70, and stayed active as a fund-raiser and supporter for
Oregon athletics into the new century.

"Although we all knew this one day would happen, it doesn't take
away from the sorrow we all feel," UO Athletics Director Bill Moos
said. "Everything that Oregon athletics is today, it owes to Len
Casanova. He has been the pillar, the strength and the inspiration
for our program for over 50 years.

"We will miss him dearly."

Casanova died at approximately 10:32 p.m. Monday at Sheldon Park
Assisted Living following an extended illness.

Casanova, a graduate of Santa Clara University, was the head
football coach at Oregon for 16 seasons. He took the Ducks to three
bowl games during his coaching tenure, including a near-upset of
highly favored Ohio State in the 1958 Rose Bowl. His Ducks also
reached the Liberty Bowl in 1960, losing to Penn State 41-12, and
the 1963 Sun Bowl, where they defeated Southern Methodist
21-14.

His tenure left him as the winningest coach in the school's
football history until sdurpassed by Rich Brooks in 1994. His 1958
team ranked second in the country in scoring defense, allowing just
five points a game and surrendering more than seven points in a
game only once during the entire season.

He began his college coaching career at his alma mater in 1946
and led the Broncos to the 1950 Orange Bowl and a 21-13 victory
over Kentucky. He then had a one-year stint at the University of
Pittsburgh, which he left to take over an Oregon program that had
finished 1-9 the previous season.

He concluded his 21-year collegiate coaching career with a
104-97-10 record.

He was a former president of the American Football Coaches
Association and was inducted into the National Football Foundation
Hall of Fame in 1997. He was presented with the Amos Alonzo Stagg
Award by the national football foundation in 1990 for his
outstanding contributions to the sport.

The university honored Casanova in 1991 by naming its new
athletic department facilities the Len Casanova Athletic
Center.

In 1992, he was one of the charter inductees into the
university's Athletic Hall of Fame.

He was born Leonard Joseph Casanova on June 12, 1905, in
Ferndale, Calif. He is survived by his wife, Margaret of Eugene;
daughters Margot Casanova Wells of Ferndale and Andrea Casanova of
Portland; three grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.